YOUNGSTOWN Group: Traficant is a champion of small business

The congressman is among the top five Democratic supporters in the House of Representatives of small business, according to an advocacy group.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Republican-leaning small business advocacy group calls U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. a champion of its industry.
The Small Business Survival Committee wasn't as kind to U.S. Reps. Thomas C. Sawyer, Ted Strickland and other Ohio Democrats.
The Washington, D.C.-based organization, which has about 70,000 members, listed Traficant of Poland among the top five Democrats in the House of Representatives when it comes to voting to support small business.
Voting record: Of 12 House votes the committee considered on its scorecard, Traficant voted with them 10 times for an 83-percent voting record. The association recognizes any member of Congress who votes with them at least 80 percent of the time as a Champion of Small Business.
The two opposition votes were to increase the president's power to negotiate trade agreements and to overturn a set of ergonomic regulations passed by the Clinton administration.
Among the committee-supported votes cast by Traficant are: President Bush's tax cut plan, eliminating the death tax, developing new energy sources and the House economic stimulus plan.
Others' votes: Sawyer, an Akron Democrat running in the new 17th District, and U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Lorain Democrat who represents western Trumbull County, voted against the committee's position on all the 12 issues.
Strickland, a Lucasville Democrat running in the new 6th District, voted with the committee's position once, on a bill to not put limits on the availability of light trucks and SUVs through increased regulation.
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a Madison Republican who is running in the new 14th District, voted with the committee nine out of 12 issues.
skolnick@vindy.com